 "Photo: Brian Tedder, Collegian Staff")
University of Massachusetts Solid Waste Manager John Pepi doesn't necessarily turn trash to treasure; instead, he works with his staff at Tillson Farm to reduce the amount of waste and educate students on how they can dispose of trash responsibly.
The 1970's broached the notion of going green for the good of the environment, but Pepi said it was not until the mid-80s that municipalities took notice.
As landfills… well, filled, cities and towns were forced to create new ways to deal with trash and create restrictions for those using them.
This is where John Pepi steps in. When the town of Amherst severely limited UMass's use of its waste facilities in the early 90's, the University turned a former horse riding arena on Tillson Farm and converted it into a multi-million dollar recycling facility and now uses it to dispose of 3,500 tons of trash per year. The facility handles 400 tons of cardboard per year, 100-200 tons of computer equipment and handles other material that other, smaller schools cannot dispose of. The recycling center has created between 10 and 15 jobs compared to three generated by simply throwing material into a landfill, a practice the National Recycling Coalition estimates is seventeen times less efficient than recycling.
During a tour of the facility, his dedication to conservation was evident. He was clearly upset after a truck dumped paper into the wrong bin.
"There's some high-grade paper in there. Some of that can be made into better quality paper than rest of the stuff in there," he said
Pepi and his staff were pioneers in the field of college campus recycling. He entered the University into the "Recycle mania" competition, which pits over 500 colleges and universities against one another. Losers must take out advertisements in the winner's university newspaper promoting the college's recycling program. Pepi said the University has done well in years past scoring within the top ten in food waste and in the top 20 in waste reduction by pound.
However, due to budget cuts, Pepi has been unable to enter the competition; something he said was instrumental in sparking student interest in taking part in the recycling process.
"I want to do aggressive and innovative things to appeal to students. We used to have bus ads, ads in The Collegian, throw pizza parties for the most efficient dorms and do well in Recyclemania," he said.
"We are good at the things we can regulate because people have few other choices besides bringing their lab chemicals and old refrigerators to us," he said. "It's the stuff that we can control ¬? that students can control ? that need work."
"A hope I have that I can connect with people and tell them that recycling doesn't hamper lifestyle, unlike giving up a SUV. It takes an extra two minutes as has a major effect on green house gas via manufacturing," he said.
Pepi's staff recycles approximately 40 to 50 percent of all material they control. But he's not satisfied with going at anything half-way.
"There's lots of room for improvement," he said.
The improvement is simple in some cases, he added. Switching light bulbs alone has had a significant impact on how much the University spends on lighting. New, more efficient toilets have reduced water waste by 40 percent. Emptying cans before recycling them saves money as the University is charged for the added weight, and not using plastic bags to hold the cans also saves headaches, he added.
Less room in the budget has also nixed ads and promotions completely as the department is forced to promote its message on signs displayed on its own aging vehicles.
The average age of each truck in his fleet is 15 years-old. The newest truck is seven.
Pepi said must become more creative with a consistently shrinking budget that forces him to constantly reevaluate his department's finances.
"It's just a lot of wasted time." He stressed 'wasted' with a certain contempt only others in his line of work could muster.
Food waste from dining commons is processed into fertilizer for local farmers, computers are dissembled and their raw metals are sold, discarded wood is chipped and made into landfill cover and older mattresses are shipped to foreign countries for use. Even the textbooks that could not be sold back find a home as they are shipped to "Hands Across the Water" a group that distributes old books to knowledge-hungry citizens of third world countries.
Waste is to be avoided at all cost, or perhaps more fittingly now, at the least possible cost.
Will McGuinness can be reached at wmcguinness@student.umass.edu.
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